Baltimore battens down for Sandy

Along with much of the East Coast, Baltimore braced for Hurricane Sandy today, with residents and store owners in waterfront areas piling up the sandbags in anticipation of what forecasters say would could be a deadly storm.

The rain should get heavy tomorrow at about 10 a.m. and continue throughout the day and into the evening, with gusts of wind of as much as 75 miles-per-hour or more, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters are predicting 5 – 10 inches of rain for Baltimore and a one to two-foot storm surge in the upper part of Chesapeake Bay.

Private and public school systems across the region – including Baltimore City Public Schools – announced plans to close school tomorrow. Gov. Martin O’Malley canceled early voting tomorrow with no word yet on plans for Tuesday’s voting.

At the Bond Street wharf, residents used shovels and in one case a plastic coffee can to fill bags with sand. Alice Simmons, who came with her son, said her Upper Fells Point home is not near the water but gets flooded in big storms anyway.

I’m going to put these up against my basement door and hope for the best.”

The city sandbag distribution station at the end of Broadway in Fells Point was busy throughout the day. (Photo by Fern Shen)